LETHBRIDGE 5
VICTORIA 2
While most of Vancouver Island braced for storms to arrive Wednesday night, the Victoria Royals were attempting to weather their own cell in the form of the Lethbridge Hurricanes in Western Hockey League play at the Enmax Centre.
The Hurricanes started strong, outshooting the Royals 7-0 in the first six minutes in building a quick 1-0 lead. They then blew in like an Arctic high in the second and third periods, recording a 5-2 victory over visiting Victoria.
The Royals were looking for their fourth win in five tries on the current six-game road trip, but will now need a victory in Edmonton on Friday to record an above .500 mark on the snowy excursion, concluding it at the new Rogers Place in the Alberta capital.
“We didn’t play well enough,” said Royals head coach Dave Lowry, who watched his team fall behind 1-0 just 2:43 in as Egor Babenko rifled a shot past goalie Griffen Outhouse.
It then got away from them in the second.
“We made poor decisions there and took penalties at inopportune times and we didn’t play to our strengths. They’re a good team, we have to remember that they were a top team in the Eastern Conference last year. They played a good team game and we didn’t.”
Jack Walker tied it at 17:33 of the first period after Dante Hannoun stole the puck and Matthew Phillips then sprung the Toronto Maple Leafs’ draft pick, who buried his fourth.
But Giorgio Estephan restored the Lethbridge lead at 7:52 of the second as he was left alone in front of Outhouse. A 5-on-3 opportunity, shortly afterward, produced the 3-1 goal as Brayden Burke tallied at 9:58 and the ’Canes took the two-goal advantage into the intermission.
Estephan and Babenko then scored their second goals of the game in the third. Estephan’s came against Outhouse, who stopped 19 of 23 shots, while Babenko tallied on backup Dylan Miskew, who faced four shots in relief.
Jared Dmytriw then ended the scoring, recording a goal in his third straight game for the Royals, beating Stuart Skinner, who made 36 saves for the Hurricanes.
Victoria is now 4-5 overall, while Lethbridge is 5-2-0-1.
Victoria faces the Edmonton Oil Kings at 6 p.m. PDT on Friday before the club returns home on Tuesday to welcome the Saskatoon Blades at 7 p.m. at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
ICE CHIPS: Royals forward Eric Florchuk — the 13th overall selection of Victoria in the 2015 bantam draft — was named to Hockey Canada’s Under-17 team for the 2016 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge that takes place Oct. 30 to Nov. 5 in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.
mannicchiarico@timescolonist.com
Twitter.com/tc_vicsports
